William of Huntingfield

Arms of William de Huntingfield, Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk

William of Huntingfield (d 1219/1) was a medieval English landowner, High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk and one of the Magna Carta sureties.

He held Dover Castle for King John from September 1203 (as a Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports)[1] and in exchange, the king held his son and daughter hostage.[2] He was granted the lands seized from his disgraced brother and appointed Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk for 1210 and 1211. In the First Barons' War he was an active rebel against King John and one of the twenty-five chosen to oversee the observance of the resulting Magna Carta.

He subsequently supported the French invasion of England, and took part in the Fifth Crusade, where he died.[3]

Family

William was son of Roger de Huntingfield and Alice de Senlis who was a granddaughter of Simon I.

He married, as her third husband, Isabel Fitz Roger, who was the daughter of William Fitz Roger of Gressinghall, Norfolk. Isabel had been twice widowed: (1) Berenger de Cressy and (2) Osmund de Stuteville.[3][4] They had two sons and four daughters. William was succeeded by his son Roger.[4]

Notes

  1. Batcheller, William. New history of Dover & Dover Castle during the Roman, Saxon, and Norman Governments, p. 102, at Google Books
  2. Turner, Ralph W. "Huntingfield, William of (d. in or before 1225)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Weis, F.L. et al (2004) Ancestral Roots ... pg 176 via Google
  4. 4.0 4.1 Richardson, D. (2011) Magna Carta Ancestry ... pg 434 via Google

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